It is no exaggeration to say that our world is becoming ever more tech-enabled. From having access to all the world’s information in your pocket to being able to have food delivered to your door without moving much more than a finger, technology is impacting every aspect of our lives.
This is very clear in the working world,where more and more jobs are becoming automated. It’s such a common phenomenon that a team of Swiss researchers have developed a tool to predict how safe a job is from automation – the automation risk factor – and have found out that academics face the least risk and meatpackers the most.
Morgan Cummins, director of coaching and recruitment, Talent Hub, says that Moore’s Law – which states that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles about every two years though the cost of computers is halved – is evident by the fact that the computers in our phones now are more powerful than that which sent the Apollo to the moon. “But most of us are walking around blind to the fact that within 18 years 50 per cent of the jobs we do today will be done by computers. This is not helped by the fact that it’s the most candidate-driven market since Celtic Tiger days. Due to this abundance of jobs people are becoming increasing complacent around the need to focus on their personal development.”
Justin Conry, director of strategic planning, PMO & transformation, Three, isn’t worried about automation threatening jobs. Instead, he believes it is “enriching” jobs. “Automation is removing time-heavy manual tasks allowing our people to do more value-add activities like talking to our customers, solving complex problems, and growing our business. It allows people to focus their time, energy, skills and creativity on tasks that can’t be replicated by automation.
“Automation is creating an entirely new set of jobs also, roles that didn’t exist 15 years ago and that offer new career paths to many professionals.”
“We tend to try to automate discreet processes that are repetitive or that precede the value-add of human oversight, creativity and reasoning,” says Conroy. “Equally, automation can be an alternative to `integration’ whereby it may be faster and less costly to automate rather than undergo medium complexity IT-integration projects.
“Whether one chooses to integrate or automate, a repeatable task is typically being systemised, allowing for more value from people’s roles. A real benefit we have seen is that of quality assurance or compliance, whereby we might automate tasks that form a very small part of someone’s job but required absolute accuracy and compliance.”
Cummins says to date the professional sector in Ireland hasn’t seen clear evidence of automation replacing jobs, what has been very evident is the investment his clients are making in software tools to automate communications, chatbots, and voice communication. “Which means customer service-type roles will be one of the areas first affected.”
He says for those who feel their roles might be at risk, he says first research how likely their industry is going to be affected. “Be proactive and ask their leadership, team or learning and development teams what they need to do to prepare for the future. Focus on the strengths they have and see how they can be applied to industries that will be less affected. What measures can they take to ensure job safety?
“First, focus on your personal development. Be ready to become the hardest and smartest worker in the company, and be prepared to go beyond the extra mile. Second, build a routine to set aside 30-60 minutes a day to become better in your chosen field of expertise. Third, look to return to college to upskill in areas that need people to work with the technology such as data science, e-commerce, IT.”
However, all is not lost for the less technologically-minded amongst us, says Cummins. “People with the so-called softer skills – critical thinking, listening, empathy and leadership – will win out as the machines haven’t yet mastered these skills. So companies will need people with these skills more than ever.”
Conry believes that automation brings much more opportunity than risks. “Automation is an emerging market, and careers ranging from process engineering, business analysis, development, testing and control-centre monitoring are ever more so in demand as businesses seek to harness automation to their benefit.
“A lot of these roles are now also listed on the Department of Foreign Affairs critical skills list to attract international talent to Ireland due to the skills shortage in the market here. People are retraining for jobs in automation, some of the technology platform leaders in the automation offering free training and certification to anyone that wants to change their career.”
Robotics, automation and digital assistants are only set to grow further into the fabric of our businesses, says Conry.
“How our people work will be complemented as these `machines’ work alongside them. Some commentators call it a “tango” between people and robots/bots – where how they work together will drive real value.
“Jobs in automation are ever-increasing so skills around analysis and development will continue to grow in demand. The shift for our people to complete more value-add activities will see an increase in demands for problem solvers, creative thinkers and emotional intelligence skills amongst others…things that robots can’t do!”